IND vs AUS: The Border Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia hasn’t even started yet. However, the Nagpur pitch received flak from across all quarters of the Australian cricket fraternity.
Australian reporters and the former cricketers went on to accuse India of preparing a different kind of pitch for the first Test. The Test opener will kick off at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
This question was even asked to skipper Rohit Sharma on the eve of the first Test. To which, he came up with a fitting response to the question.
The Indian captain silenced the critics by telling them to focus on the match and not on the pitch. Australia are worried about the fact that they haven’t extracted good results in India in Tests since 2004.
The last time when they toured India, they lost the Test series by 2-1. Despite the fact that they won the first Test by a massive margin of 333 runs, they were unable to hold on to the lead.
Team India made a stellar rebound in the upcoming games and went on to win the series. They even won the Test series by 2-1 Down Under in 2018 before going on to churn out the same 2-1 Test series win Down Under in 2020-21.
IND vs AUS: Nagpur pitch comes under fire
Meanwhile, a popular reporter Bharat Sundaresan opened up on the way of arrangement being used for the surface which might give India a major boost going forward into the Test series.
“Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface & only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump & then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends,” Sundaresan tweeted.
Meanwhile, many Australian media outlets claimed that the pitch curators were doctoring the pitch. On the other hand, several others from India stated that both teams would be competing against each other on the same track.
Popular Indian commentator and cricket expert Harsha Bhogle pointed out that the home teams are always expected to have an edge, especially in terms of the conditions in order to make Tests engaging.
“So much talk about pitches before the game starts! For one, it is the same for both teams. And second, it has to present a challenge to the touring side. That is the essence of home and away contests,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
Twitter reactions:
The same wicket for both sides!
Don’t judge too early!
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